Posted on 04/26/2013 7:21:39 PM PDT by Gamecock
A Texas inmate was executed Thursday evening for fatally shooting one of three people he and a partner abducted during a convenience store robbery nearly 11 years ago.
Richard Cobb, 29, didn’t deny using a 20-gauge shotgun to kill Kenneth Vandever in an East Texas field where two women also were shot and one was raped. He was convicted of capital murder.
“Life is death, death is life. I hope that someday this absurdity that humanity has come to will come to an end,” Cobb said when asked if he had any last words. “Life is too short. I hope anyone that has negative energy towards me will resolve that.
“Life is too short to harbor feelings of hatred and anger. That’s it, warden.”
But that wasn’t it.
Just before the lethal drug took effect and at the conclusion of his statement, Cobb twisted his head back, raised it off a pillow placed on the gurney and then toward the warden standing behind him.
“Wow!” the inmate exclaimed in a loud voice. “That is great. That is awesome! Thank you, warden! Thank you (expletive) warden!”
His head fell back on the pillow, and his neck twisted at an odd angle, with his mouth and eyes open.
He remained that way for some 15 minutes before a physician entered the death chamber to examine him and pronounce him dead at 6:27 p.m. CDT. Sixteen minutes had passed since the drug had been injected.
The father, stepmother and stepbrother of the man shot and killed by Cobb were among the witnesses. Also in the viewing area was one of the women who was shot and attacked but survived to testify against Cobb.
“I think justice was served but it doesn’t change anything to speak of,” the slain man’s father, Don Vandever, said after watching Cobb die. “I do think the justice system needs to be more of a deterrent.
“All he did was go to sleep."
Nikki Daniels, 29, who was raped and shot during the 2002 attack but survived to testify against Cobb, said, “I thought he was going to be remorseful, I thought he was going to be apologetic, was hoping that he was going to address me.
“I saw the same evil person I saw 11 years ago. … He definitely showed his true colors.”
The Associated Press generally does not name victims of sexual assault but Daniels agreed to be identified.
Daniels said Cobb’s punishment in the end “was far too easy.”
About two hours before the lethal injection, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Cobb to be executed, rejecting a last-day appeal. It was Texas’ fourth execution this year.
“They’ve been looking all over for another drug to administer the death penalty. I wonder why they don’t just overdose these people with cocaine, morphine or heroin, or some combination. It worked for Chris Farley and John Belushi.”
Why not fill a gas chamber with dry nitrogen? There are no effects whatsoever. Several people were working in a windowless room in a building where I worked. A dry nitrogen leak displaced all of the oxygen. They all died and nobody even stood up from their station. (This was over 30 years ago.)
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